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On Wednesday, Acting Police
Commissioner Stephen
Williams defended the efforts of
his police officers, declaring that
crime was at its lowest in eight
years.
Mr Williams described himself
as hurt by the criticism of his
officers and called for the public
to be guided by facts, since talk
was cheap.
It wasn't the first time that
statistics have been raised as a
shield against poor public per-
ception of police performance.
In April 2012, the police lead-
ership declared a 13 per cent
drop in murders over the prior
year's total. Since the numbers,
hovering at 104 and 91 respec-
tively still represented an
appalling tally of killings, the
light of hope was quickly turned
to the sharp increase in reports
of rape, incest and other sexual
offences, double the total of 123
in 2011.
Here, at least, there seemed to
be some good news. Far from an
increase in incidents, it seems
that the police service had earned
some hard won respect and con-
fidence in communities with
their Victim and Witness Sup-
port Unit, leading to more
reports.
Last week, the Acting CoP
couldn't seem to inspire any of
the compassion and empathy
that made that community out-
reach project a success.
It must be as clear to Mr
Williams as it is to the public
that murders are no longer exe-
cutions done on the run or under
the cover of darkness. Unmasked
killers are comfortable with the
idea of walking into people's
homes and killing anyone they
fancy if their targets aren't
around. It doesn't matter who
you are or what time of day it is.
The police are up against
ghosts, men in vests and short
pants who disappear into crowds,
supported implicitly by like-
minded colleagues yet to earn
their kills on the unforgiving
streets.
To attempt to dilute this brutal
reality into insignificance by cit-
ing numbers is to lie most cruelly
with statistics.
It's suggesting that one thing
equals another thing, when the
helplessness of the police in the
face of brazen, casually insou-
ciant murders lies at the core of
the prevailing despair at the fail-
ure of the police service to iden-
tify and arrest, far less convict
these fearless murderers.
Murderers and thugs are flip-
ping off the police casually, and
the official tough guy response
has impressed no-one. Meeting
meaningless violence with equally
meaningless violence only angers
the innocent and foments a
wholly unnecessary polarisation
between officers and the public,
one that chills the possibility of
conversation that might lead to
change. When the police are seen
as just as much of a problem as
the criminals they are hunting,
cooperation from the citizens of
communities in East Port of
Spain will continue to be pre-
dictably nonexistent.
The backlash against the effort
to assuage public fears through
statistics so angered former Min-
ister of National Security Jack
Warner that he threatened to
withhold accountings of crime
from the public.
Mr Warner wisely backed down
from that position, and the Act-
ing CoP won't change anything
about crime until he stops mas-
saging numbers and confronts
the bloody truth of the recent
killings at Nelson and Duncan
Streets.
That was a brazen slaughter
that challenged the police to do
something about it. As far as the
criminals who committed the
crimes are concerned, they
haven't done a thing.
Statistics are no balm, sir
Murderers and thugs are flipping off the police casually, and the official tough guy
response has impressed no-one. Meeting meaningless violence with equally meaningless
violence only angers the innocent and foments a wholly unnecessary polarisation between
officers and the public, one that chills the possibility of conversation that might lead to
change.
A product of Guardian Media Ltd
Contact us
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The Government of Barbados has
announced that it can no longer afford to
provide free education for all qualified for
admission to the University of the West
Indies (UWI). Instead, it will pay 80 per
cent of the cost.
This is a reflection of the fiscal crisis in
which the country is engulfed and the
continuous escalation of the cost of tertiary
education.
Barbados owes the UWI, Cave Hill
campus, over US$100 million, with little
prospect of paying off this sum, and has
correctly decided to stop accumulating
further debt to the institution.
As such, the Barbadian Government
cannot be faulted for its financial
pragmatism.
In any case, no government is obliged to
provide free education, inclusive of
university education.
The decision in Bridgetown does not
result in fewer Barbadian students
attending the UWI.
The UWI has not sufficiently addressed
the issue of the cost of the education it
provides and the financial solvency and
viability of the institution.
One solution to the problem could be to
reduce the cost of a degree by offering
more courses or whole degrees via the
Internet.
This could also be a means of increasing
the number of students at no additional
cost of infrastructure while reaching the
global market and earning foreign
exchange.
There is a huge untapped market in the
diaspora for courses with Caribbean
content, eg history, literature, music,
tropical medicine, marine biology, tourism,
regional integration, and climate change in
small-island developing states.
The UWI does offer some distance
teaching, but not enough.
The financial crunch, which is not
confined to Barbados, can provide the
impetus for this long overdue change.
The crisis is not a problem; it is an
opportunity which should not be wasted.
---Jamaica Observer
Sound Off: Lowering cost of university education
A30
MONDAY,
AUGUST 26,
2013
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